[PS2] Steambot Chronicles

Here's a preview: http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2.../703731p1.html

I recently got the demo, and I had a lot of fun with it. It is pretty neat the dialogue options you get, and how the other characters react to them. It comes out next week, and I'll definitely be picking it up. I also like how you can do various things for work. Be in a band, be an arena fighter, or a farmer for example.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So what exactly is the focus? On-foot adventuring and gathering/purchasing parts for a robot for.. what? Arena fights? Story based battles?

Or is it robot adventuring with small on-foot sections or mini games to gather better parts?

It looks intriguing, as I'm a huge steampunk fan, but I'd like to know what exactly the game focuses on.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It doesn't really seem to have a focus, that's the thing. If you want you can focus on your trotmobile. Buy/make parts for it and fight in the arena. Or join the local gang and terrorize people with it. You can neglect the trotmobile all together and join a band if you want. I'm assuming though that you'll need your trotmobile for any storyline battles, so you probably want to keep it in decent shape at least. There is an overall story that has something to do with the protagnist's past, but focusing on just that is no fun.

I also like how you can buy clothes that appear on the character in-game. In the demo I bought a white pimp suit complete with hat. I only wish the demo had the trumpet in it so I could bust out some jams in my suit right on the street corner.

I'll post my preview that I wrote for my site. It's a small preview, but it'll do the job^_^

Originally Posted by My preview!

I recently had the pleasure of playing through a demo of the upcoming Steambot Chronicles. A lot of people have had their eye on this game since it debuted at the Tokyo Game Show in 2004 as Bumpy Trot. Now Atlus is bringing it to the US next week.

The game begins with you waking up on a beach after what seems like a shipwreck. You quickly meet a pretty girl named Coriander, Connie for short, who befriends you. Connie lets you know that your name is apparently Vanilla, since you of course have amnesia. From here you can shape Vanilla to your liking.

The main draw in Steambot is that the game lets you do what you want, and act how you want. Do you want to be a complete jerk and blow Connie off? Or perhaps you'd like to get to know her better, and eventually become more than friends? It's up to you. Very quickly you'll notice that when you engage in conversation you're given a number of dialogue choices that will affect the story, and how characters react to you in the future. Vanilla's attitude isn't the only thing you can customize. You can also buy a variety of outfits that all show up on Vanilla in the game. Characters will even comment on this. Connie happily let me know that she likes the cowboy look when I donned some boots and a 10 gallon hat. Your hobbies are also up to you. For example, there are a number of instruments to play. If you so choose you can earn money as a musician. Pool hustler, trotmobile fighter, or farmer are all available. You can even join the local gang, and rob people for a living.

Now for the "Steambot" portion of the title. The world of Steambot Chronicles is one in the middle of an industrial revolution. The difference between theirs and ours are trotmobiles. Basically walking cars. You get your own fully customizable trotmobile which serves a number of purposes. The main one being combat. The trotmobiles controls much like the katamaris in Katamari Damacy. It takes a bit to get used to, but once you do it's easy. As was mentioned, you can customize the trotmobile however you want. Change the color, license plate, and weapons.

Steambot Chronicles is an interesting game that allows the player to make his own path. Look forward to our review in a couple weeks.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Sounds intriguing. I'll personally want an interesting story to get me to wade through the game, no matter how fun just goofing around is supposed to be.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, unfortunately the demo doesn't really go into the story at all so I can't really tell you much about it. I just know the main character has amnesia, there's a gang terrorizing the area, and the girl that finds you has some sort of secret about her past.

It comes out in a couple days. I'll give more details about the story when I get the full game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

Posted by Rei no Otaku
It doesn't really seem to have a focus, that's the thing.

Hmm. That premise always ends badly. Such games have a bad tendancy to try to do too many things at once, and do none of them well.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I just played the demo too, Rei how far did you end up going? I like the dialogue options, but I'm not a huge fan of walking around with clunky robots. I think I read somewhere that it's like GTA, you kind of just play an open ended game and there are different plot developments depending on what you do. So I guess you can play the game multiple times and take on different personalities.

The graphics aren't really my style either.. it looks so... drab.

How ya doing, buddy?

The demo ends at the concert. The one that came with OPM has a time limit on it, while the one you can pick up at the store doesn't.

I'm about 6 hours into the game, and I'm enjoying it so far. The only complaint I have is that it moves slowly. I just now got the ability to rent an apartment for example. That could also be due to how I'm doing a lot of side stuff, but it's definitely not a game for anyone who wants a strong plot. I'd actually compare the game more to Animal Crossing than GTA. "Relaxing, nonlinear adventure" fits perfectly.

It has a lot of character and heart though. I'm growing to be quite attached to the characters. Especially Connie.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I don't know, I don't really find it nearly as non-linear as it claims to be. Although, apparently the non-linear aspect really takes off after you beat the game (though, I'm not sure what there is left to do).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I love it =D Just started. It's exactly what I imagined it'd be and more~

I'm dressed up like a cowboy and shake hands with everyone new I meet =p A har har har. Dunno why it makes me grin.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've been playing it quite a bit, and I find my problem is that I don't pay enough attention to the main plot. I've been dating Connie, playing with the band and building an electric guitar.

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